The Big LeadJason McIntyre reports USA Today outlined in a conference call its plan to pay annual bonuses to writers based on page views. “The goal, obviously, is to get writers thinking digital,” writes The Big Lead editor-in-chief. “But once writers start scrutinizing their page view tallies, and realize slideshows, rumors, and celebrities drive traffic, what will be the impact?” || McIntyre tells Romenesko:

My source was on the conference call, so it’s rock solid. You knew this change was coming.

Gannett Blog founder and former USA Today reporter Jim Hopkins says:

This tracks with something I was told earlier, about reporters getting trained on using Omniture so they can track traffic on their stories.